Bonnskij Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 I haven't come across an answer for my question, so I'm hoping I'm not overlooking anything obvious. I am wondering if there's an amount of time after the first tempering cycle where it becomes pointless to do cryo treatment? The thing is that I have access to various low temperature freezers at work, but generally do my heat treatment in the evening to better judge the colour of the steel (I know it's not optimal, but we work with what we got). Could I potentially quench, temper once, leave overnight, take it to work for cryo then take it home and temper again? Or is there another method that would be better with the tools and timing I have available? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 We had a VERY good discussion of subzero quenching/cryo treatment about a year and a half ago. Look this over, and make sure to read the linked articles: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnskij Posted February 24, 2020 Author Share Posted February 24, 2020 Thank you. Looks like I did overlook something. So cryo directly after quenching it would seem, and the longer the wait after the less of an effect it will have. On the other hand, dry ice temperature seems to reach nearly the full potential of cryo treatment, with little gain achieved from liquid nitrogen, so that's interesting. Dry ice is definitely doable at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 First: is it an alloy that profits from cryo processing? Then: Harden, temper immediately, cryo (can be later), temper immediately after warm up from cryo. The retained Austenite won't go anywhere with waiting (that's kinda the issue); however you don't want any untempered Martensite hanging around at any time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnskij Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 I have a couple of different steels. No point to cryo treating the simple 1084 as far as I can gather. But I have some leaf spring, which (if it's 5160), should benefit. I also have w2, but I don't know if there is a point to cryo treating it or not. Sounds like I have some more reading to do. I suppose the blade might just end up cracking if there's untempered martensite hanging around? The metallurgy of bladesmithing both fascinates and confuses me. Back to the books! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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